Public Lab Research note


Impact of rainwater harvest on Agriculture and education

by okellomanpeter | March 03, 2022 18:11 03 Mar 18:11 | #30094 | #30094

Introduction:

Water is very important for daily today activities. For all our domestic use, industrial use, farm use, construction and animal use. There is no substitute for water, (Ssewakiryanga 1996). The Uganda constitution of 1996, article 29, clause 1 state that; "every Ugandan is entitle to clean and safe water". Hence the government is responsible to make sure everyone has access to clean water whenever they need it. The government of Uganda through National Water and Sewage Corporation (NWSC) ensures that water reaches all Ugandans through pipe water. Also National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), ensures that all water catchment areas in Uganda is not encroached by investor, business settings and construction companies as well.

The rural communities in Uganda is profoundly affected by inadequate water supply and access to clean water. Reports from UNICEF Uganda and National Drought Management Authority Uganda (UNDMA) indicates that when the long rain is gone, numerous parts of eastern Uganda especially Kaliro District, experiences extreme dry spell causing low agricultural harvest and bout 90% of health related cases are due to unsafe drinking water, also noted by (USAID, 2018), that 50% of the health center visits are related to unsafe water supply.

Our main concern:

This research seek to examine the impact of water harvest in rural agriculture development and education sector of Kaliro District in Eastern Uganda.

Obstacles and supporting information:

Despite all the efforts that the government of Uganda through Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), NEMA, NGOs and CBOs. Kaliro District has limited water supply and also lacks storage management of water, community lacks unclean and unsafe water for agricultural use, learning institutions (children travels for miles looking for water) and domestic water usage is miserable, contaminated water is also a threat to their health and to their animals, there is competition from the sugar factories which consumes a lot of water and at the same time polluting the environment, there is no infrastructural development, agricultural yield are always low due to low water supply, the water catchment areas are being encroached by the local who grow rice, (UBOS, 2018).

Who is engaged in this concern?

The Non-Governmental organizations in Eastern Uganda has been providing water aid to the local communities through construction of boreholes, water dams, and schemes to support and elevate poverty in Kaliro District, UNNOF (2019). They also highlighted that water aid in Eastern Uganda and in Kaliro in particular has been increasing steadily since 2010 to 2020. One of the key issues worrying the donors are the high rate of poverty, high level of school drop out especially girls due to shortage of water, under-developed infrastructures, poor agricultural yield yet there exist all opportunity for the development eco-system of the communities. More evidence also suggest that water management highly contributes to the development of a society, this could explain why there are so many NGOs proving water aid yet the community still struggles to score success in agriculture sector, and education sector.

What are the initial questions?

What is the relationship between rainwater harvest and agricultural production in Kaliro District in Uganda?

How does waterwater harvest influence education system Kaliro District in Uganda ?

What is the relationship between climate changes and agricultural projects?


  • Power tag: questions: "okelloman-rainwater-harvest"

2 Comments

Welcome @okellomanpeter -- wonderful to read your project on water management. You've posed some big questions! Sounds like the rural people have to compete with industrial centers for water, very difficult. Are there traditional ways of storing water still used in practice?

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Thank you @liz for taking your time to read my work. Industrial expansion and relocation of industries from Kampala to eastern Uganda has worsen water management in the region, not only through pollution but also encroachment of wetlands. Therefore, rainwater harvesting is a simple and low cost supply technology that has been practiced for thousands of years. Despite rain harvesting being simple and low cost technology, many rural communities and learning institutions in eastern Uganda have not adopted it despite its high potential in contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals with a view to eradicating poverty and hunger, providing safe drinking water, protecting life on land, climate action and promoting gender equity. This study therefore intends to assess the sustainable water harvesting system in community households and learning institution of eastern Uganda.


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